In 2369, a destroyer intercepted Dr.Richard Galen's shuttlecraft and placed it in their tractor beam. The Yridians were interested in obtaining Galen's research regarding an ancient software program hidden within the DNA of several species, which they wished to sell to the Cardassian Union. The Yridians boarded the shuttle and stole several bits of information from his computer. The USS Enterprise-D intervened and ordered the destroyer to stand down. In response, the Yridians fired at the Enterprise, however, because the destroyer was overloading its power generators, it was inadvertently destroyed when it was hit by a single phaser blast from the Enterprise. (TNG: "The Chase")

This unique studio model, which first appeared as a destroyer, and then later as a freighter, was designed by Rick Sternbach. Unlike most other "alien of the week" studio models, this model would not be reused to represent another species' starship.

In the script of "The Chase", [1] the "Yridian attack ship" was described as being "much smaller than the Enterprise-D, but wasp-like and deadly-looking."